In its year-end wrap, Billboard (12/18/10) proclaims 2010 The Great Pop Boom noting that pop’s percentage of the Top 10 songs on the Hot 100 chart had soared to 74% compared with just 28% in 2005. Popsters such as Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Justin Bieber and Black Eyed Peas were headline grabbers. Nashville’s Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum also enjoyed high enough levels of sales, press, airplay and chart positions on the Hot 100 to qualify them as pop sensations, too. One thing the pop acts have in common is their highly evolved communication skills designed to keep them front and center in the public’s mind.
Besides the pop success, it was also a year in which some basic industry assumptions were trampled. The touring industry, thought to be bulletproof, was derailed by the weak economy and digital track sales growth, long touted as the savior of falling album sales, slowed to a crawl.
For example, Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged to become Live Nation Entertainment, but sagging ticket sales and tour cancellations caused its stock to drop 50% from April through mid-August. U.S. digital track sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan set an all time record at 1.172 billion sold, but only increased 1% over 2009. The tracks increase was particularly disappointing when contrasted with total album sales which dipped 12.7%.
Train frontman Pat Monahan told Billboard that radio’s role in exposing pop music is also changing. “My manager has a great baseball analogy,” Monahan says. “He said that radio used to be the starting pitcher, and now it’s the closer. You’d better have all your other stuff dialed in—your online fan base, your touring—if you think radio is going to come together.”
Billboard writer Monica Herrera cleverly offers several explanations for the pop-ularity of music-driven TV show, Glee. “A common explanation for the appeal of Glee is its constant championing of earnestness over cynicism,” she says, “coupled with the fact that the cast consists of diverse, relatively unknown faces. It’s no coincidence that some of the year’s most embraced talents, from Bieber to Susan Boyle to Greyson Chance, have equally wholesome back stories, as viral sensations who constantly stay on message about their remarkable rise to fame. Even the always-costumed Gaga talks often of her pre-fame days, and a quick Google search lets fans see her in full struggling artist glory. Horatio Algers for the YouTube age, these new pop stars are the realization of a dream that perhaps resonates more than ever for a logged-on, recession-addled public.”
Analysis: If pop exploded in 2010, what format will shine in 2011? One thing is sure, the challenges are already stacking up. All formats will face unresolved retail sales, radio and touring issues.
In 2010 radio groups got serious about extending their reach beyond the terrestrial towers and using online strategies such as mobile phone apps and streaming. But pure-play Internet radio alternatives such as Pandora were also stretching. Pandora now claims over 65 million users and during 2011 will interface with Toyota, BMW and Ford automobiles. Free and paid subscription services like Spotify, set to finally launch in the U.S. this year, are also likely to cut into time spent listening to traditional signals. Eventually all Internet channels will find a way to reach into the coveted auto dashboard, where so much of radio listening takes place and terrestrial radio will have to evolve to meet these challenges.
The outlook for retail sales is equally complex. Almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy, as physical sales continue to droop (48 million fewer albums in 2010), retailers respond by shrinking music shelf space. As Nashville marketers grapple with CD format extending ideas such as six or eight track albums, opportunities to enjoy streaming music are growing exponentially. Looming larger each year is the question—Do consumers really need to purchase music anymore? Combine a myriad of channels such as Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, Last.FM, Yahoo and Rhapsody with improved 4G mobile wireless and one gets an on-demand, 24/7, instant-access media world where one is always on the grid.
Pop music may continue to rule in 2011, but all formats are finding that music revenue streams and the pathways along which those dollars flow, are rapidly changing.

Commissioned and Shirley Caesar Honored at BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards • Sara Evans Visits Pearl-Cohn Choir Students In Preparation For Keep The Music Playing All-Stars Concert • Kix Brooks Visits The Troops

Commissioned and Shirley Caesar Honored at BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards

BMI honored gospel greats Commissioned and Pastor Shirley Caesar at the organization’s 12th Annual Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards Luncheon. The event was held January 14 at Rocketown in Nashville and was hosted by Catherine Brewton, BMI VP Writer/Publisher Relations, and Del Bryant, BMI Pres./CEO. The ceremony will be telecast on the Gospel Music Channel Saturday, February 19 at 7 pm. BeBe and CeCe Winans’ “Close to You” was named BMI’s Most Performed Gospel Song of the Year. Written by BeBe Winans and published by Music of Everhits, the song also earned the 2010 Dove Award for Urban Recorded Song of the Year.

(L-R): BMI Pres./CEO Del Bryant; Commissioned’s Karl Reid, Maxx Frank and Fred Hammond; Pastor Shirley Caesar; Commissioned’s Michael Williams, Mitchell Jones, Keith Staten, Montrel Darrett, Michael Brooks and Marvin Sapp; BMI VP Writer/Publisher Relations Catherine Brewton; and BMI Sr. Dir. Writer Publisher Relations Wardell Malloy. Photo: Arnold Turner

Sara Evans Visits Pearl-Cohn Choir Students In Preparation For Keep The Music Playing All-Stars Concert

RCA Nashville recording artist Sara Evans visited Pearl-Cohn High School on Friday (1/14) to give choir students career advice and performance tips in anticipation of their appearance at the Keep the Music Playing All Stars Concert presented by SunTrust Bank at the Schermerhorn on February 1. The students performed and were accompanied by Pearl-Cohn High School Music Director, Llewellyn Peter, on a Baldwin Grand Piano which was donated to the school in 2008 through the Country Music Association’s “Keep the Music Playing” Program.

(L-R): Metro Nashville School District CFO Chris M. Henson; Exec. Dir. Nashville Alliance Pam Garrett Tidwell; Sara Evans; Pearl-Cohn Exec. Principal Marva Blanchard-Woods; and CMA VP Corporate Communications Wendy Pearl. Photo: John Russell

Kix Brooks Visits The Troops

As part of the USO’s annual holiday tour, American Country Countdown host Kix Brooks performed for members of the U.S. Military serving overseas. Brooks was joined by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, in travelling to Afghanistan and Iraq. Also joining to spread holiday cheer to the troops were seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong; comedians Robin Williams, Lewis Black and Kathleen Madigan; and Country songwriter/performer Bob DiPiero.

(L-R): Lance Armstrong, Kix Brooks, Bob DiPiero, Robin Williams, Kathleen Madigan and Lewis Black.